OUR OPINION: Taking a fresh look at policing in Lindsay and Ops

Peterborough This Week

The leaders of the Kawartha Lakes Police Services Board have been asking residents of Lindsay and Ops - and anyone else who wants to participate - to answer a series of questions to help point them in the right direction for the future.
As policing costs rise, they find themselves trying to set priorities that match what taxpayers want.
To their credit, they have set up a quick and easy online survey and have already hosted two focus groups. One board member told our reporter that not only are they welcoming people to think outside the box, they are looking to change the parameters of the box.
This police service has a budget of $7.5 million and it could easier grow in the coming years without a strategic review. For a small population of taxpayers, there is obviously a limit for what they can afford. The rest of the City of Kawartha Lakes is patrolled by the OPP for an enviable lower tax rate.
In the online survey, the Police Services Board states that 90 per cent of its budget it consumed by salaries and “the Police Services Act severely limits the ability of the Board to reduce the number of officers.”
It then asks how to rank the importance of the factors in the remaining 10 per cent of the budget.
To us, that sounds like the same box and the same parameters, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Officers are paid well and we need to make the best use of their professional skills, even if we have to give up some of the services that have been nice to have, but not essential to crime prevention and resolution.
From there, the survey asks you to rank what you feel is most important to maintain. We look forward to seeing what trends emerge once the final results are tallied.
For now, the next steps are up to you. Login onto the Kawartha Lakes Police Service website and find the Community Consultation link.
Think about what we truly need from our police. If you don’t get the options you want in the list of answers, use the comment boxes to make sure your voice is heard. After all, it takes a lot of momentum to change an organization that has run a certain way for many years.
The police are trying to get ahead of the curve. Let’s help them get there.